Coming back to share the Gospel

Monday

After five years serving God in Roseburg, Ore., Rev. Matt Spangler announced he was leaving this pulpit to try and transition back to his home area, central Illinois.

After five years serving God in Roseburg, Ore., Rev. Matt Spangler announced he was leaving this pulpit to try and transition back to his home area, central Illinois.

Spangler, who grew up in the Ellisville area, and his wife, Haley, who grew up around Delavan, wanted to raise their three children, 5, 3 and one born in March, in the same place and way they were raised, surrounded by family on both sides.

“You see so many broken families, no connection with family members,” Spangler said.

One week after his announcement in Oregon, Spangler learned the Evangelical Free Church in Canton was looking for a new pastor. Some of the members had learned he was coming back and asked if he would be willing to apply for the position.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” said Spangler, who received his training at the Moody Institute in Chicago.

Still, Spangler wasn’t sure that a 27-year-old with five years of experience would be considered for the position. And when he found out he had been accepted, he was, as he put it, “humbled and excited.”

And while he was coming “home,” Spangler was able to see those things he took for granted — such as having both sets of grandparents still around — with new, fresh eyes.

For one, Spangler said he was amazed at how the weather changes in the Midwest as opposed to the Northwest.

“I missed the fall, the harvest season,” Spangler remarked. “It’s not the same in the Northwest.

“And I never recognized the importance of community in the Midwest. That’s another thing I took for granted.”

Something that has not changed is the main purpose of his ministry, however. And that is to make people aware that they can move from where they are to where God wants them to be, no matter what their past held.

To help accomplish that, Spangler wants the Evangelical Free Church to become seen as a church where the truth is spoken and where people are cared for. And this is not a plan based on man-made ideas, Spangler insisted, but on the plan for the Church designed by God, citing Acts 2 as his model.

Churches get into trouble when they try to follow something other than God’s plan, Spangler continued.

“God intended the church to be a caring place for broken, hurting people,” he explained. “It is supposed to be a place that shows them they don’t have to live in darkness.”

To accomplish this, Spangler has two specific goals in mind.

The first is to make sure the church is committed to not adding to the division already in the world. He cited Matthew 28, the Great Commission, as his source, to unite the heats of the world as Jesus’s disciples.

The second goal is to remain faithful to the first step regardless of what happens to come against the church as it works to fulfill its mission.

To do that, Spangler insisted, believers must remember that God is always in control and to keep from being afraid. When we lose sight of that, Spangler said, that is when divisions come in.

“God is directing everything,” Spangler said. “He will fix things according to what He intends.